Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
FWIW, and maybe not much at all, I will only be drug into Walmart kicking and screaming. I do more and more business with Amazon Prime, and love some of the deals that I can only get at Costco. Have never been disappointed by the larger purchases…
A diversified allocation doesn't really care, since these things all tend to work themselves out. Over 10 years, growth has done better because of the last 3 and 5 years. Technology and health care have led the way, and these are rarely considered…
Headlines this morning were that Apple shares 'plunged' 5%. OMG, 5 freaking percent. Did anyone bother to look at 2012 when shares dropped almost 40% during the year? Don't you just love the folks who write these stories and headlines? So I shou…
If you have accounts with Edward Jones, ask your broker and branch manager to provide you with a written document that says in just a few sentences that he/she will always act as a fiduciary and put your interests ahead of his/her employer:
"I wil…
We have seen this all before...Merrill Lynch, Raymond James, Prudential, Ameriprise, and many others. Good results or not, great service or not, this is a HUGE conflict of interest. I would hope there is written and verbal disclosure to all client…
This is pretty simple, really. Assuming you are referring to immediate, fixed annuities, the process is sort of like Social Security or a corporate/public pension. In return for giving an insurer a sum of money, you receive an income for life. Th…
This graphic from J.P. Morgan is one of the best. We use it all the time. It should help all investors understand that 1) the AVERAGE intra-year decline is around 14%, and 2) we are long overdue for a correction (not a crash or bear market, but a …
Matthews Asia Dividend has been a stalwart for years. We use it as a core hold in many client accounts. It is like the Energizer bunny. We call it the 'chicken' way to have China exposure.
Personally the best thing my wife and I have done financially was to convert our 30-year mortgage to a 15-year mortgage years ago. We will have no mortgage when we retire. That is huge.
Does it really matter? I look at it this way: every year the odds are 50-50 the markets will go up and 50-50 they will go down. Some years they might go up a lot (smaller odds), and other years they might go down a lot (also smaller odds). That'…
When clients have asked me to explain the Greece debacle, I have likened it to a financially dysfunctional family. We all know what they look like. When times are good, they spend a lot of money to acquire stuff, much of which they really don't ne…
Both Schwab and Fidelity can have service issues, it just happens. People are people. Understand that any big change of a web site has undergone a lot of testing and consumer feedback. That does not make it good, as Fidelity's new look proves - l…
Kaufman had great success at Thornburg. If he is able to use the same strategy, which was fairly unique in determining what 'emerging market stocks' meant, he could duplicate his success at Artisan. His departure from Thornburg is still puzzling t…
Does anyone really put much stock in Mr. Gross' ramblings. I mean, the comments are interesting, sometimes a bit bizarre. But after translating into English, there is often nothing new. As the saying goes, "There is no there, there."
Germany is the big kahuna. Along with France, they will do everything they can to preserve the euro currency, so it is very unlikely the EU will fall apart on currency.
No, you should NOT worry, unless your allocation does not address your own risk tolerance. As for a crash, that seems very unlikely. A correction, however, is long overdue and would be welcome.
I am surprised that anyone follows these anymore. With all the information that is available online, and the fact that Forbes readership, like all print media, is shrinking, this ends up being just another of hundreds of MF lists. 25-30 years ago,…
Yeah, a lot of great fund people escaped mention. Mary Jo White cannot get her own team on the same page, let alone stop campaign coffers from influencing how politicians in Washington vote on fiduciary matters. Their comment that "requiring bank,…
I did not see what research she used to write this article. "Most" mutual funds could be, what, 51% or 65% or ? This is all stuff we have heard for many years, so it is strange to me that Forbes would bother with the article. I think most of us c…
From the prospectus, "When the Fund writes a put option [on publicly traded stocks], it expects to profit if the underlying security prices remain the same or rise." Potential investors need to understand the complexities of this strategy. The goa…
In the end, Greece will not matter much. No economy, no industry, no one pays taxes, almost totally reliant on tourism, with graft and corruption everywhere. There may be a short-term blip in most markets, but it will not be long lived. Fortunatel…
This was an very good read. Liz Ann is a very intelligent person, and she expresses her thoughts in an easy-going style. She can be very fast, which is typical of someone with her level of smarts. But I have always found her commentary to be soli…
Mr. Zweig raises a good point, but the fact is that no matter how hard fee-only planners cajole clients, some insist on opting only for investment management. For those who want a more complete relationship, a retainer fee works very well. Without…
Mr. Baron needs to take a good look at his funds' expenses. They are not outrageous, but they are higher than they should be given the company's assets and the low turnover ratio in the funds. 1.30% for $5.3 billion BSCFX, compared to 0.15% for a …
Unfortunately, the fund's long-time lead manager is no longer running the fund. Still too early to know how this will work out. We learned of the change just as we were considering adding the fund to some of our portfolios, so that idea was put on…
Roy, how great to hear from you. Thanks for making MFO possible, and for insisting that board posters be civil to each other. That made a huge difference between FA and other investment sites. Best to you.
I could be wrong, but I am not aware of anyone who actually uses BrightScope, except for writers in the financial industry. Truth is that what I have seen includes outdated and sometimes just wrong information. Since much of their database is done…
Interesting, since I , too, receive these often. However, the person sending is certainly NOT a CFA credential holder. Occasionally they are a CFP credential holder, but most often they are simply an 'advisor'. Note the invitation disclosure al…
It means EM index and many actively-managed EM funds will be forced to increase their China allocations. Before it was Hong Kong only. Big difference. Will most certainly mean higher prices for China A-share stocks. Same is likely to happen with…
Too bad the article is wrong. Assets did leave, but not for the reasons given by writer Matt Wirz. Do the editors bother to check the information? Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm for Market Watch.
